Here A Slipper, There A Slipper

So, just the other day, I posted about what an icky gift slippers were. Maybe I should have been more specific. They're an icky gift to give me. I have four or so pairs right now (all gifts), and I very rarely wear them. Even in the depths of winter when my toes are like ice cubes, I prefer to be barefoot while in the house.

Last Friday, I went to a work friend's fourth annual holiday party. (I'll have to do a whole post about my crazed, but really fun weekend. Good Lord above, it's almost like I have a life or something!) Part of this party was a gift exchange, so I needed to hunt down a cool $10 gift. I am not good at buying random gifts when I don't know who will be getting it. Even if I have no clue who the person is or anything about them, if I have a name, I can stalk their friends and find something that I think they'll like. Just a random gift - I'm clueless. And what if no one picks your gift, and it just sits there, the last one on the table? It's like getting picked last for the kickball team at recess. The pressure was killing me.

Thank the stars for jewelry parties - I picked up a bracelet for $11. Then I went to Target and got a really cool box to put it in. But the bracelet looked so small in the box that I went rooting around in my craft stuff and made a tree ornament to go with it.

I'm still not completely clear on the concept behind stealing gifts at these exchange things, but that's probably just me. Everyone picked a number, and of 16 people, I was number 14. Then we went in order. You could pick an wrapped present or steal someone else's unwrapped present. If you stole, that person got to chose another wrapped one. Each present could only be stolen three times total. There was some really cool stuff too - a very pretty handbag, candles, bath stuff, chocolate, a tin of homemade cards, etc. What did I get? Go ahead, guess. Did you say... slippers? Yup. *sigh* The fates were obviously retailating against me for being an ungrateful chit about the whole slipper gift thing.

And actually, it worked out well. My friend's gift got stolen from her and she ended up with coffee, which she doesn't drink. But, she'd worn holes in her last pair of slippers. So we waited 'till we were walking out and we switched.

Then (and this is the really sad part), I was wandering around the internet, looking for a suitable slipper image to head this post when I found these. Are they not the cutest things ever? Bunny slippers don't count towards the slipper geis. I want a pair! And, I bought a pair for my best friend for Christmas. So, I think I'll just pipe down about slippers 'cause I obviously don't know what I'm talking about.

(And as it happened, my gift was a hit. It didn't get stolen from the original person, but since she threatened people with bodily harm if they took it from her, that isn't a major surprise. We work at the same company but in completely different departments, so I rarely see her - but she was wearing the bracelet the last time we bumped into each other. Score!)